Sketchbook Monday - Dejah Thoris

Dejah Thoris © ERB - Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Since I did a Warlord of Mars yesterday, I thought a Princess of Mars would be an appropriate follow up.

Terra cotta Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1536

Sketchbook Sunday - John Carter, Warlord of Mars

John Carter © ERB

I am quite excited by the release of the newest trailer for the JOHN CARTER movie. So I was inspired to sketch the title character. For fun I slapped some color on it in Photoshop. Below is the unaltered sketch.

Blue Col-Erase pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad.

This is Post #1535

Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars - Complete

Just finished inking this piece. Mostly with a brush. Some Micron pen work on the background. 11" x 17" Strathmore 500 Series Bristol Board.

Dejah Thoris - Princess of Mars revisted

I haven't drawn Dejah in a while, so here she is. I just reached in the flat files and pulled this paper out and went with it. It's fun mixing it up. This was done on a 12.75" x 18" Canson Paper. I would say the paper color is warm gray, but my scanner had a heck of a time matching it. I had to mess around in Photoshop to get it close to the original. I used Microns, Pitt Brushes and a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #2 brush with Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink. Like I said, mix it up.

Today was a full day at the Labs. I did more art for this event than any other. About 2-3 times as much. It went really well, but I was exhausted. But I still made time for Dejah this evening. I will probably put her up on eBay in the next day or two, for anyone interested.

Dejah Thoris - Princess of Mars

Short post today. This is just a quick sketch for a piece I will finish later. I wanted to do a Dejah Thoris action piece for a change. Most of the time she is just lying around looking sexy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. :) This was completely done in Photoshop.

A Princess of Mars in living color

It has been a very productive few days. Finished the revisions of a very big and important job. Will hear tomorrow if any other changes are needed before heading to press on Thursday. Signed a million DIARY OF NIGHT postcard size prints. Not a million really, just looked like it. And tonight after a late dinner I did the above. Based on a sketch I posted here a while back. This is done in ink, watercolor, and acrylic on 11" x 15" 140 lb, Strathmore cold press watercolor block. My scanner made it look brighter and more saturated than the original so I desaturated it a bit. Got it looking the same as the original but then I post it and it looks duller than the original. Oy! I can't think of the last time I painted something using traditional mediums. I think I needed to bust loose a bit. I really have a ton of work to do but sometimes you just got to take a couple of hours after a 12 hour day and do something for yourself. :) I also wanted to do something different for the blog. It's been a lot of misc. sketches and business illustrations lately. Don't want anyone to get bored. :) Good night all!

Thuvia, Maid of Mars

Another ERB Mars character for today. This was a real quick one while sitting in the waiting room at the dentist today. Make every moment productive. :) Beat the deadline of the first pass of the big project. Finished yesterday evening. And managed to create another, separate piece of art today for the project presentation. Some day I hope to share this work. It's pretty cool. Today was more Cognitive Neuroscience art and tomorrow I finish up the last of the first pass art. I already have some corrections to earlier chapters that I need to take care of as well. Also on deck for tomorrow are two more pieces of art for the Bahama real estate development. Both roughs need to be done tomorrow. Today I looked at the clock around 12:30 and realized I would have been on a plane half way to Pittsburgh. Sigh.

Tars Tarkas

I was going to sketch a long, lean four armed Tars Tarkas today but ended up doing a headshot. Less than two hours of sleep since Sunday morning, 6am and two very full days and nights of working on a project that I can't talk about or show has worn me out. So, it's a moody headshot. :) If you don't know who Tars is, well, you need to read the Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tars is a Martian and is a loyal friend of John Carter of Earth. The art I am working day and night on is a large one: 3 feet by 5 feet, done in Adobe Illustrator. I have never worked that large in Illustrator and it has been a learning experience.